Philip L. Rhodes (1895 -1974) was one of the most distinguished yacht designers of the past century. A brilliant designer whose boats were beautiful, fast, seaworthy, and comfortable, Phil Rhodes was active for 50 years -- from 1920 to 1970. And he was prolific; a listing of his yacht designs totals 386, most of which are sailboats. Because he designed many boats for ocean racing, especially to Bermuda, his boats had to be fast, but they also had to be strong, seaworthy, and comfortable to survive and keep racing through the gales that frequent the Gulf Stream and other race courses. All of Phil's designs follow a set of underlying design principles. The boats are beautifully shaped and proportioned. The Rhodes sheerline is distinctive, rising to a fairly high bow, dropping aft of amidships, and rising modestly to the stern. Medium overhangs give the bow and the stern plenty of buoyancy and increase the waterline under sail. The construction was strong.

SONIC was first constructed to test Sono Buoys (Hunt For Red October). These are military sonar buoys used to find submarines and were the subject of a book and later a movie. They were invented during WWII. Sonic was labeled a Research Vessel and we know that this is the source of her name.

The most significant modification to the original design has been that the centre board was replaced with a solid winged steel keel. The dolphin like fins seem to work well and Sonic's 29 ton hull still only draws seven feet with its new keel and still points points very well to weather.She has circumnavigated the world 6 times and is kept in exceptional condition by her owners.Inspection by appointment, with exclusive brokers YBC Langkawi, Malaysia.